Barclaycard Debt after death

c007er

Hello,

My mother in law passed away a few weeks ago, and we have discovered a barclaycard in her name with £1700.00 of debt attached to it.

She lived in a council house for 40 years. She paid no rent as she had lived there for so long. she paid no council tax. she only paid very low rates for utilities. the only income she received, ever, was a state pension of £60 a week (or there abouts.)

She had no savings. less than £10.00 in her current account, and absolutely zero assets or "things" of worth. no car. nothing of monetary value.

She had NO insurance for anything. no home insurance. no life insurance. nothing to cover funeral costs. how do i go about getting this £1700.00 CC debt cleared without it falling at our or another family members doorstep as we cannot afford to pay it?! is there a solution?

Thanks

c007er

Ms_Chocaholic

When you say she didn't pay rent as she lived there so long, I don't quite understand.

When you rent a property off the LA they don't say we'll give you it rent free as you've paid rent for 40 years. Are you sure she hadn't bought it?

If she has no assets then the sum owing will be written off.

Shelldean

I presume as her incme was so low, she received Housing benefit to cover the rent and council tax.
My Nan was in the same position.
Write to the Credit card company and inform them of the death and inform them there is no estate.


They might try a few time to get you or another relation to pay. But you are under no obligation to pay anything to them.
Just keep repeating in writing that there is no estate.


I had no issues with Nans she died in similar financial circumstances, tho her debts weren't as large, and she did have 2K in the bank which we used to pay for ther funeral ( a priority debt and one that is paid before all others.
Once we'd paid back a small amount of overpaid pension to DWP(one weeks worth) there was nothing left for any debts.
I told them this fact and they were fine.


On the otherhand when my f-I-l passed with a £600 Natwest credit card debt, and no estate. Natwest tried to get us (the family) to pay it. Took a couple of letters for them to write it off but they did eventually

Ms_Chocaholic

It also might be worth sending a certified copy of your mum's death certificate to Barclaycard as proof. It might mean a few less letters for you to deal with afterwards.

Marktheshark

If she has no property and no estate you can do.. NOTHING .
There is no such thing as next of kin upon death, there is estate or no estate and if she has left nothing, they get nothing.
Do not contact them or agree to take on any responsibilities.
They can apply to the probate office if they think she had anything.
Nobody has to be next of anything, just bury her and ignore them if she has no assets.
Once you start dealing with her creditors you open a can of worms and they pester you.
Let them find out for themselves.

dzug1

Marktheshark wrote: »

Let them find out for themselves.

Trouble with that is that they will try to find out by pestering you

Mr_K

Don't contact Barclaycard at all, it's not your debt, it's the Estates. If there is no Estate then there isn't a debt. If you give them your details they will try and get it from you even though it's not your debt. As above, do nothing and if they do pester you refer them to the law/contact citizens advice/ask them to write to your solicitor.

Barclaycards fault for giving her a card in the first place, shame she didn't spend more on it and enjoy herself.

InsideInsurance

Saying not to contact BC is simply daft.

It is perfectly correct that if there is no estate then the debt dies with the person but to not bother to even inform BC that the person is deceased/ send a copy of the death certificate is simply being a pain in the !!!! for the sake of it and will likely cause issues for the new tenants of the property as BC send what they will assume is a simple non-payment to debt collectors etc.

Some lenders are underhanded and will ask you to pay, some may even imply you have to but you dont. Its the deceased's debt and theirs alone. No harm in cooperating with basic requests for copies of certificates etc though

dzug1

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Saying not to contact BC is simply daft.

It is perfectly correct that if there is no estate then the debt dies with the person but to not bother to even inform BC that the person is deceased/ send a copy of the death certificate is simply being a pain in the !!!! for the sake of it

But that does appear to be precisely the attitude of some posters here

OhReally_2

c007er wrote: »

Hello,

My mother in law passed away a few weeks ago, and we have discovered a barclaycard in her name with £1700.00 of debt attached to it.

She lived in a council house for 40 years. She paid no rent as she had lived there for so long. she paid no council tax. she only paid very low rates for utilities. the only income she received, ever, was a state pension of £60 a week (or there abouts.)

She had no savings. less than £10.00 in her current account, and absolutely zero assets or "things" of worth. no car. nothing of monetary value.

She had NO insurance for anything. no home insurance. no life insurance. nothing to cover funeral costs. how do i go about getting this £1700.00 CC debt cleared without it falling at our or another family members doorstep as we cannot afford to pay it?! is there a solution?

Thanks

c007er

Really?

Which council is that that?

How long does a tenant have to pay rent until they are entitled to entirely free council housing in your area?

My gran lived in a council house for over 60 years, and she was still paying rent to the council (or the corporation as it used to be called and she still referred to it as) until her last dying breath.

Free council tax too? How come?

:huh:

Ms_Chocaholic

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Saying not to contact BC is simply daft.

It is perfectly correct that if there is no estate then the debt dies with the person but to not bother to even inform BC that the person is deceased/ send a copy of the death certificate is simply being a pain in the !!!! for the sake of it and will likely cause issues for the new tenants of the property as BC send what they will assume is a simple non-payment to debt collectors etc.

Some lenders are underhanded and will ask you to pay, some may even imply you have to but you dont. Its the deceased's debt and theirs alone. No harm in cooperating with basic requests for copies of certificates etc though

When my MIL died she had numerous (too many to mention) debts to all and sundry. She had loads of catalogue debt, payment plans, you name it she had it! Nothing in the bank though.

I was helping out my partner sorting out her paperwork. I rang the first catalogue to inform them and they were asking all manner of questions, it was almost a grilling! Not only that, I continued to get calls/letters regarding that debt for months and months afterwards, despite sending a death certificate they lost it and chased me for the debt.

So glad I didn't ring the other 20 or so.